Monday, April 28, 2008

I often have dreams with overtones of the end times... last night was similar to my previous dreams, but involved a lot of reflection both in my dream and when I woke up...

I had a dream where I was living my life in fear of God yet anticipation of his coming.... I was in a school yard with all these other kids there were all these natural disasters going on around us. I was initially surprised and confused as to why all the earthquakes and other natural disasters were all happening around the same time.

When my friend Trina (my closest Christian friend in high school) then told me that it was because Christ would was going to return any minute... because all of the signs were happening. Knowing that he would come, I started living each minute in wait... like "oh, another earthquake... he must be coming", and I would look in the sky and wait, but he didn't end up coming. Almost like a puppy waiting for his master to come home... every car door or person going by would get it all worked up.All of a sudden I was with my husband at a strange place that was not our home. My husband was with me taking his lunch break and had to go back to work afterwards. I was talking with him about my time with Trina, and I wasn't sure why Christ didn't come... and then it just dawned on me... it's because in it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:2- "For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night"... and in Matthew 24:43-44 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect"... which is to say that NO ONE will actually know when the exact minute he will return.

So then in my dream I was kind of battling with how I should live, because when I was fearful and excited at the same time that he was coming every minute, my mind was more focused on God, but then at the same time Christ says that NO ONE will know which means that I won't know the exact minute he will come, so did that mean I should live my life out not expecting him to come?

I woke up and started thinking about what I had just dreamed, and Ironically looked over at a book on my husbands book shelf that caught my eye entitled How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer... I don't think it's necessarily related to my dream and the passages I read, but the title kind of does...

After I got up, I looked up the thief passages that I was referring to in my dream and I came across this passage:2 Peter 3:10-18 "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies (or elements) will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works done will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless people and loose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."The conclusion I came to after reading these passages was that even though I won't know exactly which hour, minute and second he is coming, I should still live in anticipation for his return. By anticipating his return as I am living a God honoring life, by His grace my steps will be more purposeful as they are focused on Him, and I will be able to glorify God more.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

This weekend was the volleyball tournament... Here we are loading into the car.

Some friends of ours went out of town for a conference, so we had the pleasure of adopting their two girls while they were gone. We had a blast playing house for a few days! The girls probably entertained us more with their silly moments and childish banter then we did them...

"Let me see the fitchers," Fiona exclaimed, while Abby posed with her infamous cheese ball smile, as I take a few quick snapshots on the way to the Volleyball tournament.

And off we went...

We had a friend help us with the girls, so that my husband and I could play on the team. Our team was costumed after the television show LOST, each team member with his or her own character to play. I played Kate Hudson and my husband played Sayid Jerrah, while our other team members played John Locke, Juliet, Ben Linus, Shannon and Charlie. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately I forgot about the camera, so sadly these are the only pictures I have from the day. :(

My apron and 4 free sewing lessons seemed to be a popular raffle prize with the ladies, and Abby ended up winning the steak dinner for two at our house, so I guess we will be seeing the girls again real soon. :)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Today was one of my big sewing days! I bought some interesting upholstery fabric a couple weeks ago downtown, to make some grocery bags for my in-laws. I was finally able to finish at least one of them! Here's the finished product...

Here's a front/back view of the grocery bag. The material a really odd aqua colored twill on the back side and a green swede/flocked sort of treatment on the front of the fabric, but it's really durable for grocery bag material.Even the back of the fabric can be used as a nice contrast fabric! With the contrast in front and back, I'm planning on making each of the bags a bit different by reversing the colors and adding other embellishments to make each bag unique.

I found the trim for the straps downtown as well. I forgot to plan a head and bring a swatch of fabric with me, so I had to just guess what color would look best. I got the closest color to the green as I could, and was actually pleased with the end result.

Now all I have to do is get some clothing labels to sew on the bags. There's a shop on etsy that makes custom made iron on fabric labels for relatively inexpensive. I'm planning on investing in some when I finalize the overall look of my new Sprouts Maternity etsy store. (Let me know what your thoughts are on my current Logo posted in my store).

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

When my husband and I got married, we registered for some Colorwave dishes. They come in all different colors, so rather then ordering one or two colors, we ordered each place setting in a different color and then ordered all of our serving-ware in black (charcoal). You can also order the floral accent plates, like we did, to dress up the place setting a bit for a more formal dinner, or afternoon tea party.They recently arrived in the mail, which was earlier then expected, and my husband and his small group surprised me by putting them away in the cupboards. To my surprise when I opened my cupboards, expecting to find our plain white and other and miss-matched dishes that I had collected from my college years, I found splashes of color in their place. My husband is so sweet!We have been using our dishes for about a month now, and I have to say, I absolutely love them! If you are getting married soon, and you like a lot of color, you should get these, they are very versatile and beautiful!